My second flight was over THE SOURCE on fire.
We followed oil from the source all the way into the
Louisiana coastal marshes and the Mississippi DeltaAn aerial view of a burn at sea over the source of the BP Slick. SouthWings pilot Tom Hutchings and his daughter Brinkley accompany Hurricane Creekkeeper to the source then back over the Louisiana Southern coast where we found what appeared to be heavy crude washed up on the beaches and in the marshes.

This should been deployed at once. Why do we let big oil determine what is necessary and what is not?
BP = Brown Pelicans!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOVEIlMF63U

A New Source? flyover 06.05.10

This rig was toppled by Hurricane Ivan some 6 years ago. It still leaks today enough to create a plume 10 miles long. If they can't control this one after 6 years, what are we going to be facing in 6 years after Terrible Tony and the BP Slick?

BP Slick Covers Dolphins and Whales

This was the most emotionally disturbing video I have ever done! A flight over the BP Slick Source where I saw at least 100 Dolphins in the oil, some dying. I also photographed a Sperm Whale covered in oil all around it's blow hole. Please spread this around the world. Send me any links to places it gets posted so I can follow. I want to piss off the world. Who will answer for these gentle creatures?

Alabama State Trooper says Media not allowed!

Alabama State Troopers are guarding the road to the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge telling people "No media is allowed down there" "I don't think they are allowing cameras"

Oiled Beaches Florida and Alabama

This is from a flight down the Alabama and Florida beaches. Due to weather we could not fly over the 4th of July so I ended the video with beach shots. I am afraid now that the cap is working (we hope) the story of the gulf residents will go away. We can not let that happen. America needs to pay more attention now than ever to the coast and it's recovery! Thanks for your support.

Disaster Source BP Slick 07.18.10

Breathing Toxic Oil Vapors???

Flight over ground zero of the BP Slick reveals oil residue on aircraft.
Acid rain reported in Tuscaloosa Alabama the day before stemming from the gulf air.
Coincidence??

Mississippi CatfishCommercial fishermen gathered in Panama City Florida to demonstrate and hold a press conference denouncing the continued use of dispersant. Fishermen are demanding: 1. Dispersant use be stopped immediately 2. All fishing openings in Gulf and inland waters be stopped until seafood tissue sampling, using updated testing protocol, for BP chemical dispersants shows the seafood to be safe; and 3. Local commercial fishermen are given first and full employment in the short and long-term clean-up and recovery of the gulf coast, starting immediately.

Bayou Fishermen Speak Out

Tracy Kuhns speaks of behalf of commercial fishermen gathered in Panama City Florida to demonstrate and hold a press conference denouncing the continued use of dispersant.

Get a camera and DOCUMENT Wild and Scenic Film Festival as an activist class production. (typo in the banner caption should read "bpoilslick.blogspot.com) Anyone can do this and make sure your story is told in your words!

TYPO IN VIDEO! A photo in the video marked 12/15/10 should read actually 12/15/09. It is a photo of a ditch with an Arsenic reading of 0.840mg/l... John L. Wathen comments on the dumping of coal ash on poor, mostly black Uniontown residents. Clearly an environmental justice community where TVA transferred to the Kingston coal ash disaster. It was not cleaned up, simply moved to Uniontown Alabama. Complaints filed with Lisa Jackson, EPA director took months to answer and then very weakly. It seems that EPA is trying to protect TVA and it's need to dispose of the disaster instead on the fine people of Perry County Alabama. Coal ash is a toxic product and should be treated as one.

Spill Into Washington Part 2 of the Spill Into Washington DC Various speakers voiced objection to the handling of the Gulf of Mexico, PB Slick disaster.

DC oil rally Hurricane Creekkeeper speaks at Spill into Washington Rally. Great day to raise a little hell!

Rick explained why and his family had to leave Pensacola Florida after the BP Slick.

Coastal Voices Part 1

Patricia James tells her story of life after April 20, 2010 The BP Slick has impacted people in ways you are not hearing about.

Coastal Voices Part 02

Ashley Elizabeth Richards

Coastal Voices 03

Tonya Shell tells her story of getting sick from just breathing the air along the GULF COAST. Tonya and her partner, like many others are leaving the Gulf Coast forever

Ocean Springs Fishermen oiled out of work

Crabbers in Ocean Springs Mississippi speak out about their livelihood being stripped away like the Mississippi Marshes after the BP Slick!

The Prayer for the Gulf

Written by the mother of Drew Landry, The Prayer For the Gulf was read at the Grand Isle "Rally For The Truth" by Drew. It is a moving prayer full of hope for clean water in the future of our children. The microphone I was using died during the rally and not one speech was recorded. The ONLY words recorded that day was Drew and "The Prayer For The Gulf". The battery waited until he said Amen to die! After the rally Drew played at a local marina on Grand Isle for free, as he often does. He is one of many story tellers along the coast who will not let the truth be buried by BP's slick ads saying all's well, come on down! They need your help to carry out this work. Consider watching the video below and make donations to the organizations listed in the credits. Thanks my friends! (3 photographs of the Deepwater Horizon burning were not my photos. They were taken from stock photos on Google. All the rest are mine. JLW)

Will Our Beaches Never Be The Same

This video covers 8 months of impact from the BP Slick and most recently, a walk with Pam Batson, Mobile resident, along the Dauphin Island East Beach 12/11/10.
I had never seen the beach in such bad condition overall.

Oyster Reefs...Why?

On Jan. 22, 2011 Mobile BAYKEEPER, Nature Conservancy and many other groups and agencies teamed up to recreate oyster reefs for marsh protection.
Due to over harvesting, pollution and other reasons the oyster reefs have been severely depleted. This project is one of many scheduled to help the architects of the Gulf, the oysters, to make a comeback so they can once again flourish, creating more marsh habitat in the process.

Forgetfulness Is Our Enemy, Recovery Is Our Salvation
Since I first arrived on the Gulf Coast to cover the BP Slick disaster I have met and befriended thousands both here in America and around the globe. People flocked to my blog site to see what was happening due to me ability to fly out there and bring in fresh new footage at least weekly. This was due to my good friend and pilot, Tom Hutchings with the flight service, SouthWings.

SouthWings and Tom provided a platform like no other in the world. Even the US Coast Guard footage never showed what we captured and exposed to the world.

Supposedly the well is sealed but the disaster still is with us today.

This video is of the beginning of projects intended to restore coastal Alabama marshes by creating new oyster reefs to protect them from the daily wave action which causes the loss of several feet a year.

Check out why "Forgetfulness Is Our Enemy and Recovery Is Our Salvation!"

All video and photography copyrighted by John L. Wathen,
Flights provided by SouthWings

Wake Up America You are being lied to!

I took a walk along the beach Feb. 09, 2011. I had seen the many ads placed on your TV and news outlets all over the world proclaiming, "The oil is gone and our beaches are clean". The one that really gets me is how safe the seafood can be when this is what our beaches look like.

One year after the well was capped, there was still oil in the Gulf. This flight with Bonny Schumaker, "On Wings of Care" discovered shrimpers fishing in oil.

Cherri Foytlin is a mother of 6 who has taken on the task of making a statement so bold that it must be heard. She left her home South of New Orleans and started walking to Washington D. C. spreading the word that the crisis in the Gulf is far from over.

Drew Landry is something of a local celebrity around South Louisiana until he had the audacity to take his guitar into the commission investigating the BP disaster. "Mr. Landry stone cold busts out his guitar during the open mic portion of the first town hall hosted by the Presidential Oil Spill Commission" (You Tube poster) He is now highly thought of through out the Gulf region.

John L. Wathen, Friend of the Gulf of Mexico.

John L. Wathen, Hurricane CREEKKEEPER of Friends of Hurricane Creek accepts the Roosevelt Ashe Society Award for "Journalism in Conservation"

Kenneth Feinberg (AKA Black Heart Feinberg) Came to New Orleans on the anniversary of the BP disaster. Mr. Feinberg, who works FOR BP spent most of his time with pep rally type speech making. When it came time for "public question and answer" time he was getting some pretty hot questions. When he saw the line-up he said just a couple more questions and called Drew Landry to the mic. After Drew was Paul Doomm, a young man confined to a wheelchair since the end of Summer 2010 after swimming in the Gulf. After all, the government said it was safe.

Kindra Arnesen, well known Louisiana activist recently went to the Gulf Leadership Summit to ask Kenneth Feinberg questions relating to current issues surrounding the BP Slick disaster. Feinberg did everything he could NOT to answer.

Another oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico! How long will Americans settle for half truths and outright lies about the true cost on carbon energy sources. It is not an overnight process but we MUST begin to realize that defending a depleting resource is like the Ostrich with it's head in the sand. While our heads are in the sand, our arses are in the air and it's not pretty what's happening back there out of sight!

John L. Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper accepts the "2012 River Hero Award" from River Network in Portland Or."This has been the high point of my career. To stand before over 700 of the worlds most powerful water advocates and accept this award is a statement to all of the people who support me and allow me to be who I am... YOUR Hurricane Creekkeeper"

Who is BP Slick

John L. Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper, located in Tuscaloosa County Alabama. I am the enforcement and advocacy branch of the Friends of Hurricane Creek.
Photographer / videographer, I have dedicated my life to exposing the truth about pollution and lack of accountability by the industries and agencies who use our waterways as waste conduits.